Changes in the Stability of Cohabitation in Mexico. Do New Patterns Emerge?

Justo Rojas Lopez , El Colegio de México

Although in Mexico cohabitation has been present in a customary manner, especially among the less educated, since the 70s there has been significant growth in the intensity of cohabitation even in the more educated. However, it is still unclear if these new cohabitations are only a prelude to marriage or are a form of union that replaces it and if they respond to changes in valuations or are the economic conditions. Using event history technique in Mexico´s survey data we try to answer the following questions: Are the most recent cohabitations substitutes for marriages or are they just your prelude? And if it is possible to link this with value or economic transformations? The result is that for the younger cohorts cohabitation reduces its risk to formalization. At the same time, although children lead to formalization, there would be a reduction in their effect between cohorts. Trying to evaluate the theories of individuation as cause, it was observed that cohabitation is not only of the least educated but that it is stable among other strata. But gender indicators show mixed results then there no clear pattern to an individualistic of cohabitations. Now, analyzing economic conditions, it was found that the economic potential of men push the cohabitation into marriage and there no change between cohorts. But at the same time it was found that there is no reason to think that times of uncertainty lead to more or less transition of cohabitations to marriage.

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 Presented in Session P1. Poster Session Fertility, Family and the Life Course